c hapTer Three
4.1 u rban qualiTies : The basis for adapTive reuse
70.Angélil M, et al.
Urbane Qualitäten. In:
Kretz S, Kueng L. (eds.) Urbane Qualitäten: Ein Handbuch am Beispiel der Metropolitanregion Zürich. Zurich: Edition Hochparterre, ETH Zurich; 2016. p. 42-73.
7. Baum M. City as Loft. In: Baum M, Christiaanse K. (eds.) City as Loft: Adaptive Reuse as a Resource for Sustainable Urban Development. Zurich:
gta Verlag, ETH Zurich;
2012. p. 8-13.
and to track the essence of urbanity, and these are: centrality, diversity, interaction, accessibility, adaptability, and appropriation.70
These qualities ‘bring together different socio-spatial and urban-planning aspects. They are neither directly influenceable nor clearly measurable, but they form an analytical grid with which urbanity can be captured and depicted.’ 53 (p.43) These are described as follows:
Urban qualities that define urbanity
Centrality- is a fundamental characteristic of every form of urbanity: the more people need and visit a place in their everyday lives, the more central this place is.
Diversity- means that different usages, user groups, social milieus and spatial characteristics are present in one space.
Interaction- means that different people interact and influence each other productively.
Accessibility- is the ability to visit a place at different times and stay in it.
Adaptability- means that a situation can be adapted as flexibly as possible to changing requirements for different user groups and uses.
Appropriation- means that different users and social milieus can actively claim a situation through their practices and relate it to their specific needs.
Figure 22. Urban qualities that define urbanity 70
According to Angélil et al.,70 these urban qualities do not follow a hierarchical structure that would lead to consider urbanity as the sum of a series of individual components that must be analyzed in a specific order, but instead, they should be understood as an interdependent structure that forms an analytical framework for defining an integral vision of urbanity. Finally, they also propose some possible urban strategies that could contribute to the promotion of each urban quality,70 but for the purposes of this study it will be required just the definition and the characteristics above described.
On the other hand, according to Baum,7 the increasing need for urban qualities in cities has led planners, developers and administrative institutions wondering about how could this need be met. Therefore, proposes some questions that could help to address this problem, such as: ‘which locations in the city have urban qualities and are able to allow new, unexpected networks to arise? What sort of conditions are needed to achieve this? Who are the people involved? And what effects do these locations have on their immediate surroundings and on the city they are situated in?’7 (p.8) Questions that lead thinking that there is a clear interest in understanding the notion of urbanity through the interaction between urban qualities.
7.Baum M. City as Loft. In: Baum M, Christiaanse K. (eds.) City as Loft: Adaptive Reuse as a Resource for Sustainable Urban Development. Zurich:
gta Verlag, ETH Zurich;
2012. p. 8-13.
According to Baum,7 over the last years, maintaining and converting derelict buildings dating from the industrial era has been considered as an opportunity to satisfy the desire for urbanity, identity and identification. Describing the characteristics of these buildings, she asserts:
‘Through their architecture, history and identity, these locations are replete with meaning and have stability...At the same time, however, these locations also show a certain degree of openness to new elements that makes them viable for the future.’7 (p.8) In brief, Baum describes all these characteristics as dynamic-stable structures, qualities that are considered to make the locations interesting and simultaneously promote citizen participation.7
LOFT
STIMULATION
STABILITY OPENNESS
adaptable container
flexible interpretable qualities of space
context architecture identity character
significance interaction engagement
interpretation examination
adaptation identification
relatedness responsability
trasformation
stage potential space projection screen
history
open for programatic and semantic changes
Figure 23. Loft: dynamic-stable structures7 (p.9)
Many people are attracted to these qualities, especially those who are willing to promote new ways of life, activities and trends, who find in these places the ideal place to start experiments that could become the basis of new creative urban development processes.7 The word Loft could be understood as ‘a term that sums up these urban qualities.
In this sense, it is used to describe adaptable, flexible, and at the same time powerful spaces with identity in which people can live and work’.7 (p.9) A concept not limited only to buildings from the industrial era, but also to any building and open space that has the same quality of stability and openness already described.7
Both approaches, the one proposed by Angélil et al. and the other by Baum, define the urban qualities that are necessary to form a notion of urbanity in the contemporary city. Likewise, these approaches share some particular qualities within which stand out: the adaptability and flexibility with which spaces must respond to the changing needs of people; and the engagement and the sense of appropriation that spaces
7.Baum M. City as Loft. In: Baum M, Christiaanse K. (eds.) City as Loft: Adaptive Reuse as a Resource for Sustainable Urban Development. Zurich:
gta Verlag, ETH Zurich;
2012. p. 8-13.
71. Foucault M. Space, Knowledge, and Power.
In: Rabinow P. (ed.)The Foucault Reader. New York: Pantheon Books;
1984. p. 239-256.
72.Foucault M.
Discipline and Punish:
The Birth of the Prison.
New York: Vintage Books; 1995.
73.The Panopticon, as described by Jeremy Bentham in Proposal for a New and Less Expensive mode of Employing and Reforming Convicts (London,1787), is basically a type of building arranged in a circular shape that allows the inmates, occupying the circumference, to be observed by an inspector, located in the center of the space.
must generate in people to strengthen its identity. However, for the purposes of this study, it is considered that the term Loft, as described above, defines better the necessary qualities for promoting adaptive reuse processes in the urban context. Not just because of the wide variety of components analyzed regarding spatial, social and economic relationships, but also because it is defined under the characteristics of the adaptive reuse approach already explained in the first chapter.
In this way, the urban qualities for adaptive reuse processes will be represented as follows:
Figure 24. Urban qualities for adaptive reuse.7 Urban qualities
for adaptive reuse
Flexible Identity Powerful Adaptable
Loft space
Changeability
Space and power
To understand the relationship between power and space, it must be referenced Foucault’s71 reflections, in which a tight linkage between these terms can be observed when he claims that ‘space is fundamental in any form of communal life; space is fundamental in any exercise of power.’(p.252) According to Foucault, architecture, as a discipline mainly concerned with the comprehension and projection of space, has also an effect in the way in which social relationships are given in a determinate location.71As an example, in Discipline and Punish:
The Birth of the Prison, he analyzes the social implications related to disciplinary spaces, such as hospitals, asylums, prisons, schools, military barracks, and factories.72For understanding this relation, and for the purposes of this study, it is taking in consideration two of the disciplinary spaces mentioned: the factory and the prison, the latter described in the context of a panopticon.73
For factories, and especially those appeared at the end of the eighteenth century, the main concern was specifying the surveillance and make them functional.72 This means that these spaces were designed to be as logical as possible and disposed in the order that production line required. At the same time, for controlling all the production process it was necessary a complete visual supervision of all the workspace in order to ‘observe the worker’s presence and application, and the quality of his work; to compare workers with one another, to classify them according to its stages or elementary operations.’ 72 (p.145) and above all to discipline them for fulfilling efficiency standards.
On the other hand, the panoptic space proposes a special emphasis on visibility as its main power instrument. And this can be given thanks to the arrangement of the spatial unities that makes possible seeing
constantly and recognizing immediately.72 In this case, the sensation of being observed all the time allows a certain control between inmates’
relations. In fact, Foucault proposes The Panopticon as a kind of laboratory of power,an ideal place to experiment on men’s behavior in relation to the space they inhabit.72
These examples are a clear demonstration of the capacity of some qualities of space in a determined location, to directly influence the way in which people relate to each other and to the surrounding. However, for better identifying these qualities it is considered necessary first to understand the term dispositif, in English apparatus, which also belongs to Foucault’s reflection about the relationship between space, knowledge, and power.
Although he never proposes a complete definition of the term, the characteristics that describe dispositif can be noted in an interview held in 1977,74 in which, when asked about the meaning or methodological function of this term, he replied:
‘What I’m trying to pick out with this term is, firstly, a thoroughly heterogeneous ensemble consisting of discourses, institutions, architectural forms, regulatory decisions, laws, administrative measures, scientific statements, philosophical, moral and philanthropic propositions - in short, the said as much as the unsaid. Such are the elements of the apparatus. The apparatus itself is the system of relations that can be established between these elements.’74 (p.194)
...‘I said that the apparatus is essentially of a strategic nature, which means assuming that it is a matter of a certain manipulation of relations of forces, either developing them in a particular direction, blocking them, stabilising them, utilising them, etc.
The apparatus is thus always inscribed in a play of power, but it is also always linked to certain coordinates of knowledge which issue from it but, to an equal degree, condition it.’ 74 (p.196)
From his statements, it can be briefly inferred several features that help to understand the term apparatus:
- Apparatus is a complex and heterogeneous term that includes either physical and virtual components under the same understanding:
discourses, institutions, architectural forms, laws, etc. All these seem to be in constant relation to each other.
- What is important to consider about apparatus’ components, is not their single meaning as isolated terms but the meaning of the network relations that could be established between them.
- Apparatus has naturally a strategic function for creating, controlling, and manipulating social relations, that allows it to be defined as an instrument of power.
On the other hand, another more complex vision could be established between the apparatus and its relation to society, and with special interest nowadays that technology is reaching all ambits of human life.
72.Foucault M.
Discipline and Punish:
The Birth of the Prison.
New York: Vintage Books; 1995.
74.Foucault M. The Confession of the Flesh.
In: Gordon C. (ed.) Power/ Knowledge:
selected interviews
& other writings 1972-1977. New York:
Pantheon Books; 1980.
p. 194-228.
75.Agamben G. What is an apparatus?.
Standford, California:
Stanford University Press; 2009.
7.Baum M. City as Loft. In: Baum M, Christiaanse K. (eds.) City as Loft: Adaptive Reuse as a Resource for Sustainable Urban Development. Zurich:
gta Verlag, ETH Zurich;
2012. p. 8-13.
That is why it is considered interesting Agamben’s75 position when he proposes that an apparatus shall be called:
‘...literally anything that has in some way the capacity to capture, orient, determine, intercept, model, control, or secure the gestures, behaviors, opinions, or discourses of living beings. Not only, therefore, prisons, madhouses, the panopticon, schools, confession, factories, disciplines, juridical measures, and so forth (whose connection with power is in a certain sense evident), but also the pen, writing, literature, philosophy, agriculture, cigarettes, navigation, computers, cellular telephones and,why not, language itself, which is perhaps the most ancient of apparatuses.’ 75 (p.14)
Agamben’s definition of an apparatus seems to be even more extensive than the one given by Foucault. However, they share some characteristics that are useful for understanding the space-power relation, and subsequently, for understanding the importance of urban qualities in cities’ urban planning.
Both approaches define the apparatus into complex and heterogeneous terms, in which are include physical and virtual components, likewise, both intend an apparatus as an instrument of power that allows creating, controlling, and orienting social relationships.
Nevertheless, what it is considered determinant in Agamben’s position is that apparatus is not just restricted to prison, schools, hospitals, factories, and other disciplinary spaces described by Foucault, but it is open to any type of space that could be endowed with power faculties.
Therefore, as a synthesis, it could be said that space and power are two terms that can be found in a constant interplay in the construction of the city and society. And this interplay can be given due to the intermediation of the apparatuses as instruments of power.
In the same way, as it could be noticed in the explanation of urban qualities above described, these are also complexly defined features that are concerned with the interaction between urban space and social relationships. Furthermore, urban qualities also seek to be proposed as an instrument for the social construction of the city, but unlike apparatuses, with no apparent connotations of power in its aspirations.
Accordingly, and for this study purposes, it is proposed that the term urban qualities can be considered inside the apparatus definition, previously described by Foucault and later by Agamben. Thereby, urban qualities are not just certain conditions that prompt citizen engagement and influence the form of networks, value-creation chains and attractiveness of particular locations,7 but like apparatuses, a real instrument that can create, mold and orient the social relationships in the urban space.
Space and identity
Identity can be a difficult term to address because of the multiple ways there are to define it, its meaning will depend on the approach from which it is seen, whether from culture, psychology, politics,
76.Collins Dictionary (Internet). Glasgow:
Harper Collins Publishers; c2019.
Identity; (cited 2019 Aug 23rd); (about 1 screen).
Available from: https://
www.collinsdictionary.
com/dictionary/english/
identity.
77.Lynch K. A Theory of Good City Form. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press; 1981.
78.Lynch K. The Image of the City. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press; 1990.
79.Ching F.
Architecture: form, space and order. Third Edition. New Jersey:
John Wiley & Sons;
2007.
religion, among others. In general terms, it could be described as the characteristics that distinguish and differentiate one person or a place from another.76 However, for understanding the relationship between space and identity it is considered necessary to reflect on the ideas proposed by Kevin Lynch.
Lynch77 defines identity as ‘the extent to which a person can recognize or recall a place as being distinct from other places- as having a vivid, or unique, or at least a particular, character of its own.’(p.131) According to him, people can experience the sensation of being in a special place according to certain qualities; in the same way, they can value the presence of these qualities and regret its absence in a determined place. Because of their characteristics, these special places are accessible to all the five senses and engage people’s perception.77 This happens because ‘the direct enjoyment of vivid perception is further enlarged because sensible, identifiable places are convenient pegs on which to hang personal memories, feelings, and values. Place identity is closely linked to personal identity.’ 77 (p.132)
This description of identity demonstrates the strong relationship that people could have to a determined place based on its particular qualities. On top of that, Lynch states that this relation, in which memories, feelings and values are supported, is subsequently translated into mental images that people can have of a determined place, a characteristic that he defines as imageability.78A term which is described as:
‘The quality in a physical object which gives it a high probability of evoking a strong image in any given observer. It is that shape, color, or arrangement which facilitates the making of vividly identified, powerfully structured, highly useful mental images of the environment’78 (p.9)
Although this definition is related to the characteristics of a physical object, it is considered that not only are the attributes of the space container that can evoke a strong image in people; but are also the characteristics of the space contained that can generate strong connections between people and a determined place. Therefore, the scale, the proportion, the form, the light or even the views that space provides,79 are also characteristics of the place that can evoke a strong image in the person who lives it. Then, the meaning of the place must be considered both in its physical and spatial component.
Since mental images represent the connections that people can have with a particular place based on their particular experience, it is probable that these images will not have the same meaning or the same characteristics throughout. Lynch explains this condition when he claims that ‘imageability does not necessarily connote something fixed, limited, precise, unified, regularly ordered, although it may sometimes have these qualities.’78 (p.10) Therefore, it is considered that what is important in this characteristic of imageability is not the specific type of image that people could form and its meaning, but that the just the fact of having a mental image from a place depicts a certain identity relation between a person and a particular place.
7.Baum M. City as Loft. In: Baum M, Christiaanse K. (eds.) City as Loft: Adaptive Reuse as a Resource for Sustainable Urban Development. Zurich:
gta Verlag, ETH Zurich;
2012. p. 8-13.
4.Robiglio M. Re-Usa:
20 american stories of adaptive reuse. Berlin:
Jovis verlag GmbH;
2017.
80.Groák S. The idea of Building: thought and action in the design and production of buildings.
London: E & FN Spon;
1992.
81.Schneider T, Till J. Flexible Housing.
Amsterdam (etc.:
Elsevier; 2007.
82.Müller G. Neues Leben für alte Bauten- über den Continuo in der Architektur.
Stuttgart: Koch; 1977.
Space changeability
Adaptability and flexibility are qualities of space that describes its ability to change through time for satisfying different needs. This quality of space is associated with the long-term vision of the built environment, a condition that must be considered not only for the existing buildings and open spaces that people use in the urban everyday life or the new ones that are being planned today,7 but also for the existing urban constructions that has lost the function it was designed for but that can still change and be adapted to new requirements.4
In general terms, it is considered that, although these qualities represent together the capacity for change the space and adjust it to different needs, adaptability is concerned with the different uses that could be given to space, i.e. change by use; while flexibility is related to the capacity of physical transformation of space, i.e. change by physical transformation.80In this way, the characteristics of both qualities could be distinguished and analyzed independently to define the potential change that a determined space could have.
On the other hand, for addressing the analysis of these qualities, Schneider and Till81 propose a simple method of division: Soft and Hard. Where ‘Soft refers to tactics which allow a certain indeterminacy, whereas Hard refers to elements that more specifically determine the way that the design may be used.’(p.7)However, this does not mean that adaptability and flexibility must be classified specifically in soft and hard qualities of space, respectively, but represents a division for understanding the way, either determined or undetermined, that space could be adapted according to the changing user necessities.81 In this sense, ‘soft use allows the user to adapt the plan according to their needs, the designer effectively working in the background. With hard use, the designer works in the foreground, determining how spaces can be used over time.’81 (p.7)Nevertheless, although adaptability and flexibility are not associate specifically to the categories of this division, Jeremy and Till propose that these qualities could have some affinity degree with a certain category when they state that:
‘Hard use is often allied with the rhetoric of flexibility: sliding doors, moving walls, and fold-down furniture come to the fore as a set of mechanisms that frame the user as an operator of architectural equipment. Soft use, on the other hand, passes control over the user, allowing them to appropriate the space as they see fit.’ 81 (p.7)
Finally, it is considered that this capacity for space change must be taken into account in the current urban debate for its implications in the cities, given that if ‘a building ceases to be versatile, its capacity for life is also called into question’.82 (p.12) A situation that would go against the sustainable urban development approach and its vision of sustainable cities. Therefore, space changeability is considered as a fundamental quality not only for promoting adaptive reuse processes but also for guiding the future development of the urban areas.